FOR THE 19TH AND EARLY 20TH CENTURIES, THE QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE HISTORICAL SOURCE MATERIAL TREATING FAMILY VIOLENCE IS FRAGMENTARY AND LIMITED, AND VARIATIONS BETWEEN RURAL AND URBAN AREAS AND BETWEEN DIFFERENT SOCIAL GROUPS PRECLUDE GENERALIZATION ABOUT THE ISSUE; HOWEVER, IT IS BELIEVED THAT THIS PRELIMINARY SURVEY HAS HIGHLIGHTED A NUMBER OF HITHERTO NEGLECTED ASPECTS OF VIOLENT BEHAVIOR WITHIN FAMILIES. APPARENTLY THE SCALE OF FAMILY VIOLENCE HAS GRADUALLY DECLINED SINCE THE EARLY 19TH CENTURY. MOREOEVER, RECENT CONCERN IS ONLY THE LATEST OF A SERIES OF REDISCOVERIES OF A PROBLEM WHICH HAS AROUSED PUBLIC CONCERN SINCE THE MID-19TH CENTURY. HISTORICALLY, PRESSURE TO MITIGATE FAMILY VIOLENCE DEVELOPED AS AN OFFSHOOT OF BROADER CAMPAIGNS TO IMPROVE THE STATUS OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN, WHICH WERE THEMSELVES USUALLY REFLECTIONS OF STILL BROADER FUNDAMENTAL SOCIOECONOMIC CHANGES. THE RECOGNITION OF BOTH CONJUGAL AND PARENTAL VIOLENCE WAS LARGELY THE PRODUCT OF A GROWING CONSCIOUSNESS OF OTHER FORMS OF INEQUALITY AND EXPLOITATION. LEGISLATIVE INTERVENTION WAS ACHIEVED ONLY WHEN, AS IN THE LATE 19TH CENTURY, THE SOCIAL COSTS OF WASTED HUMAN RESOURCES WERE RECOGNIZED, AND FAMILY VIOLENCE THREATENED TO SPILL OVER INTO PUBLIC VIOLENCE. VICTORIAN AND EDWARDIAN COMMENTATORS FORMULATED INTERPRETATIONS OF THE PROBLEM THAT HAVE CONTINUED AS POPULAR STEREOTYPES OF THE VIOLENT PARENT OR HUSBAND AS BEING LOWER CLASS AND FROM A SUBCULTURE THAT LEGITIMIZED VIOLENCE. SOME SOCIAL REFORMERS, HOWEVER, VIEWED THE PROBLEM AS ROOTED NOT ONLY IN LOWERCLASS CUSTOMS BUT IN WIDER SOCIAL TRADITIONS WHICH HAD LONG SANCTIONED THE LOW STATUS OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN. A BIBLIOGRAPHY AND A LIST OF ENGLISH LEGISLATIVE STATUTES BEARING ON THE PROBLEM ARE PROVIDED. (RCB)